But on a farcical night at Spurs, who failed to back him despite a thumping 5-1 win over Sunderland, he admitted he could still be the next Premier League boss for the chop.

Two goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and strikes by Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Gylfi Sigurdsson kept Tottenham's faint hopes of a Champions League push alive.

And Sherwood then laughed off talk he will be forced out in the summer.

He said: "My record here is second to none. My win percentage is the best of any Tottenham manager. I'm the best manager this club's ever seen!

"Clubs always look for the next one.

"But I don't know if this club's been doing that. Any questions regarding my employment you'll have to ask my employers."

But asked about Norwich sacking Chris Hughton, he admitted he could be in the same boat, saying: "I never want to see another manager get sacked because I'm in that position myself. That's the nature of the game."

Sherwood, who is understood to be interested in the Canaries job if he is axed, added: "I was just focusing on the game, I can't comment on anything about my employment.

"As far as I'm concerned, I set the team out well and we outplayed Sunderland. We've got five games left. We think we can win all five and we'll see where that takes us. We've just got to get on with it.

"I'm relishing this opportunity to manage such a big club."

Sherwood has a year left on his contract - but Tottenham refused to give him their unqualified backing last night, with speculation the former Blackburn midfielder could even be moved on before the end of the season.

However, a Spurs source said: "The board will meet with Tim, as would be normal, at the end of the season to review how things have progressed. Anything else at this stage is speculation."

Louis van Gaal is the odds-on favourite to take over in the summer, while Frank de Boer, Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klinsmann and Michael Laudrup are also interested.